Ice Nine

Ice Nyne was a rock group started at Georgia Southern College in Statesboro, Georgia in 1981. The group was comprised of 5 guys and a girl from the Augusta area. The name Ice Nyne came from one of the founding members, Jeff Wells. Jeff had read Kurt Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle" and changed the spelling of ice 9 to make it "cool"...This first version of Ice Nyne played the clubs and frat houses around Statesville for a year or so. The hightlight was probably there very memorable show at the Claxton, GA "Rattlesnake Roundup". After many equipment issues their set was not very well recieved. The event organizers thought they had hired a country-southern rock band and were quite pissed when Ice Nyne took the stage and proceeded to play Hard Rock. The climax came when the band was threatened that the flatbed trailer they were playing on would be pulled out from under them if they didn't get off of it immediately. The equipment was torn down in record time and the band was basically run out of town.

Ice Nyne reformed in Augusta in 1982. The members included Judy Whitaker on vocals and keys, Jeff Wells on guitar and Robert Mabery on bass all from the original lineup. Brad Wasden was recruited as the drummer and the band was set. They made their debut at The Operating Room. They quickly gained a local following and became part of a very vibrant music scene in the early 80s.

After recording a demo one of their songs, "White Lies" found its way into the hands of James Brown's manager Fred Davis. Davis persued Mr. Brown with the idea of signing and producing an album with the band. After many attempts Davis was able to talk Mr. Brown into signing the band to his Churchill Augusta label. The band recorded their tracks at Robbie Ducey's studio. The deal never quite worked out and all the the band was left with was the memories of working with The Godfather. The highlight of this era for the band came at a huge festival sponsored by one of the local radio stations. The venue was at the Savannah River and around 2000 people were in attendance. Ice Nyne played to a very receptive crowd and was brought back for an encore following their set. The local radio station put a couple of their songs in rotation and the band played often around town.

Ice Nyne then changed drummers (Paul Arrowood) and started playing more around Augusta and the southeast. After several years the band had run its course and decided to split. Robert Mabery and Judy Whitaker went on to play in Methods of Danse (with Jeff Jordan and Tracy Wright...then Mike West). Jeff Wells moved to Birmingham and started a band with Scott Brock (Augusta native that played with Silent Rage). Paul Arrowood started his own band that still plays in the Augusta Area.